How quickly the grass recovers once we have a few days of rain. Last time I sat down to write these notes I was looking out on a brown, crisp ride and sheep field beyond. Now they are green and lush and the remaining sheep are once more content. I shall have to get the lawn mower out again!
The water level in the wildlife pond has gone down a lot, but now that the  edges of the pond are covered in water weeds it is not unsightly as it was in the first few years. The native waterlillies have flowered wonderfully again this year. They started at the end of May and they are still producing buds. I have just spent a smashing sunny afternoon in my waders taking off yellow leaves and thinning some of the oxygenating plants out. I got a couple of sharp nips from dragonfly larvae and saw lots of young newts, but the waterboatmen  pack quite a sting so I did my best to avoid them. The pond is a real joy to us, you never know what you will see – damselflies, dragonflies, a fox having a drink, or Ted, our young Labrador, testing his toys to see which float and which sink!
In spite of all the dry weather our ‘new’  orchard – well it’s ten years or so old now – is full of fruit. We have harvested the early pears, which are very sweet as a result of all that sun, and the apples are coming on nicely. I have always loved harvesting,  as a child I was always in the fields with the combine, cadging lifts with the driver or in the tractor or trailer. I do not know what the Health and Safety people would say these days, but I have some good memories. As I grew up I was able to drive the tractor with the grain trailer while Dad was on the combine. It was hot, dirty, dusty work, but it was always my favourite job. The smell of barley dust  now brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye. It has been a challenging year for farmers this time, with the dry weather making the grain small and light, and thunder storms flattening some fields. Dad and I would have taken time to carefully combine it in the right direction to make sure we got most of it, but today the crop is worth so little and a man’s time costs so much that it is not worth the trouble. Perhaps the farmland birds will benefit from what’s left, the pigeons certainly are right now.                                Wendy Bathurst